Happiness is easy

One of the greatest challenges for an author is releasing a new book after a resounding first success. Huge expectations are created, and this pressure can inhibit the writer. Edney Silvestre faced this problem: *Se eu fecha os olhos agora* won important literary awards and sparked interest in the foreign market. Undeterred by these circumstantial issues, Silvestre worked on a new narrative, the one we have in our hands. *A felicidade é facil* proves that Silvestre has come to occupy a prominent place in Brazilian literary circles. With ingenuity, he subverts the winning form of his first novel, in which the macro-history (the turbulent period before the military dictatorship) served as a backdrop to a tale of violence and domination. In this new book, personal destinies are inextricably linked to the macro-history, the Collor administration. The author bridges the two ends of Brazil's recent history: if in "If I Close My Eyes Now" there was still a certain innocence, through the eyes of children, in "Happiness Is Easy" we enter an era of cynicism, shamelessness, and every man for himself. Technically, Silvestre teaches us a lesson: with some elements typical of detective fiction, he creates a political novel, a difficult and largely unexplored genre in Brazil. Everything unfolds, in alternating chapters, in less than 24 hours, starting at the scene of a kidnapping. We meet Olavo and Ernesto, advertising executives involved in high-level corruption within the federal government; Mara, a former escort for executives; Irene and her husband, along with their son, who are domestic servants; Major, a private driver, and his daughter, Bárbara; and the members of an international gang of kidnappers. It's impressive how Silvestre penetrates the distinct worlds of each of these characters. The narrator navigates with ease through the consumerist tastes of Olavo and Mara, the intricacies of Brazil's money draining abroad, the world of desire and frustration of the Irene-Stephan couple and the Major and his daughter, and even the language and mannerisms of high-ranking delinquents. Ultimately, amidst the mud that seems to invade everything, Silvestre finds hope. As in Drummond's poem, in which a flower pierces "the asphalt, the boredom, the disgust, and the hatred." Sublime.